Chapter 12
Not Alone

Dean sat there, his jaw clenched as he stared down at the statement. He didn't know why he was surprised. It did, after all explain why Theodore was such an unhappy person while they were at Hogwarts and it did wholly explain why he did what he did to Parvati. Dean sighed and sat back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling and thinking of all of the paperwork this was going to need if he was to report it, which he would have to eventually. Despite the fact that he had wanted the full story on why Theodore had done what he did so that they might have something interesting come out of the case other than the fact that Theodore was a monster, Dean found himself with a strong urge to pretend that he had never deciphered the sounds that Theodore had emitted and turn in a report saying that Theodore had gone insane. He knew that the only reason for this urge was because he was personally involved in the matter. He hated Theodore for what he had done to Parvati, for all of the pain that he had caused her, some of which would last forever in the form of memories but now that he had found this out about her he couldn't seem to hate the man with such a burning passion as he had beforehand, even though he knew that he should. He couldn't shake the feeling and the thought that it wasn't Theodore's fault. But it was his fault! Dean thought, he didn't have to beat and rape her.

Yes, but he doesn't know any different! Another smaller voice in another part of his brain said.

Dean was completely torn between feeling sorry for him as he must've had such an awful childhood, and from hating his guts because he had done that to Parvati. He leaned forward, gripping his hair tightly as his feelings clashed together in a sea of confusion.

There was a knock on the door, making Dean jump almost a foot in the air. He quickly stuffed all of the paperwork inside his briefcase and stowed the briefcase underneath the couch as an extra precaution to make sure that Parvati never found out.

"It's open," he called.

He was barely halfway to the door when it clicked open to reveal Padma, Parvati and Isaac standing there with bags upon bags of groceries.

"Come on then," Padma said, "Help us bring it all in."

Dean stared at them, dumbfounded, "Uh," he said, still confused as to why they had not only bought dinner, but an amount of food that probably couldn't fit in his pantry.

"Dean do I look like I've got ten hands?" Padma said exasperatedly, adjusting Isaac on her hip.

"No," Dean said, shaking himself out of his daze and drawing his wand as he moved forward to relieve Parvati of the three bags that she was carrying with a small smile, "I got it," he said and she let them go almost in relief.

Dean levitated most of the bags inside with his wand and dumped them unceremoniously on the kitchen bench.

"So," he said, turning around, "Does anyone want to explain why I have this much food in my kitchen? It's only me in this flat."

Padma scoffed, "Dean, you live off tea and cheese on toast, it's time you started to shake up your diet a little."

"I'm not a family of ten!" Dean said in disbelief looking around at all of the food, "Padma this could cure world hunger!"

Padma laughed, "Well there may not be ten people living here at the moment, but there sure as hell is more than one, so as long as I'm here, we're not eating cheese on toast at all."

"You're staying?" Dean asked in confusion.

Padma gave him a blank look, "Of course I'm staying, you didn't think that I'd just dump Parvati on you and run off to Wales with Terry did you? No, Isaac and I are staying here until Terry and his family can sort the whole thing with his mother's will out, then we'll take Parvati back to Bristol with us."

"Uh, well there isn't a lot of room in this place," Dean said, "and I haven't got any mattresses so you may be sleeping on the floor."

"What do you think the blow up mattresses are for then?" Padma said, pointing to a bag. Dean rolled his eyes. This was definitely Padma, always prepared for any situation.

"Alright then," Dean said, giving in, "You two want to tell me why you went gallivanting off to St Mungos?" he looked from Padma to Parvati, searching for answers in their eyes. It was then that he noticed that Parvati's eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot. His gaze flicked back to Padma, questions written all over his face. Padma immediately mouthed, I'll tell you later and Dean could only imagine that it wasn't good news.

"Right then," Padma said, "we didn't know what food you liked so we just got Chinese, hope that's okay?"

"Yeah, Chinese is fine," Dean said, as he watched Padma hand Isaac to Parvati, his thoughts on completely different things than what they were eating for dinner. He had noticed a change in Parvati's demeanour and the way that she moved, "Uh, Padma do you want to help me dish it out?" he asked, hoping to wriggle some answers out of her.

Padma nodded and moved over to Dean, taking the plastic containers out of the bag as Dean pulled out three plates and one bowl for Isaac.

"So," he said in hushed tones, "Why did you go to St Mungo's?"

Padma glanced anxiously behind her to see that Parvati was still playing with Isaac, "Dean I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you," she said urgently, "I honestly thought that the healers would but evidently they didn't."

"Tell me what?" Dean said, stopping what he was doing to listen to what Padma was saying.

Padma glanced around again before lowering her voice to such a whisper that Dean couldn't be sure that he heard her right.

"She's pregnant," Padma whispered.

"What?" Dean asked, using all of his self-restraint to not raise his voice, "are you serious?"

Padma nodded seriously, "Five months."

"What?" Dean hissed, "How could something that big slip your mind?"

Padma fired up, "My mother-in-law died!" Padma whispered, "is that not a big enough situation to drive it from my mind?"

Dean faltered, seeing where he had gone wrong there, "Well why didn't the healers tell me?"

"That's what I want to know," Padma said, "They obviously thought that either a) I would tell you or b) you weren't privy to the information."

"Well that's freaking brilliant," Dean said sarcastically, moving a dim sim onto his plate with such force that it bounced onto the countertop, "Just brilliant. She can't get an abortion this late into her pregnancy can she?"

Padma shook her head sadly, "It's too late, she either has to keep the baby or give it up for adoption once it's born."

"I'm going to bloody sue St. Mungo's!" Dean said, "If they'd told me when they told you then we would be in this mess. She's already been through enough; she doesn't need to go through this!" Dean said angrily, not knowing how he was keeping his voice to a whisper.

"You're talking to me like I'm the bad guy in this Dean," Padma said, putting her hands on his shoulders as he seethed , "I'm on her side, we both are."

Dean let out a long sigh, "Sorry," he said, "It's been a long day."

"Yeah," Padma said, "For you and me."

Parvati could vaguely hear them whispering behind her as she cradled Isaac in her arms, staring at nothing. She knew that Padma was telling Dean about what had happened today but she was glad that she was whispering because she knew that if she could make out the words that her body would shut down and she had to stop that from happening. She had tried to be strong for so long, tried to act like nothing affected her, that she was completely bulletproof but after this, she found herself an emotional wreck, Padma's words from before drifted back to her.

"You don't have to be strong twenty-four hours a day, Parvati."

To which Parvati had responded, "I have to try."

And try she must. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was before she had been forced into marrying that bastard, before she was afraid to sleep without sleeping potion, before all of the scars started to litter her body and her mind. Parvati had been determined for this to happen when she had returned from the hospital but now that there was a living person growing inside her it was a lot harder to make an effort to return to normal.

How could she just go back to her normal way of living now that this had happened? How could she try to return to her normal mindset when she had a living, breathing reminder to show for what she'd been through, when every day she woke to find a child that might so much resemble Theodore that she would collapse every time she saw it.

Parvati felt something move deep inside her abdomen and she flinched slightly, rousing Isaac from his sleep. He opened his big brown eyes and looked up at her, startled.

"Sorry," Parvati whispered, readjusting her hold on him as he closed his eyes again.

She felt her heart hammering at a thousand miles an hour as her free hand flew to her abdomen, probing around gently. Was that movement the baby? Was it telling her that it was there, just reminding her of its existence, reminding her of how it came to be.

She looked down at Isaac's sleeping form and wondered if she would ever look at her child as Padma looked at Isaac. With so much love in her eyes that it looked like she might burst open with it. Would she ever have that pleasure? Or would she never be able to look upon it without remembering what happened to her.

She knew that something had to be done, but what? She could kill herself, that would work in getting rid of the baby but then what would all her fighting be for? If she killed herself now she would break Padma's heart, not to mention Dean's. She knew that she couldn't bring herself to do anything to harm herself in order to hurt the baby. She would have to deal with it in other ways. Other ways that hadn't been thought up yet.

"Dinner is served," Dean said in a mock French accent, placing a plate of rice, dim sim's and noodles in front of her.

"Thanks," she said with a smile as Padma offered to take Isaac to bed. Parvati picked up her plate and found that once she put the first spoonful of noodles in her mouth that she was very hungry. She hadn't eaten all day.

"Dean," she whispered as she tried to refrain herself from shovelling the whole plate into her mouth at once.

"Yeah?" Dean said, looking up and smiling at her.

Parvati drew a shaky breath and spoke the words that she had been thinking since she and Padma had left St. Mungo's.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered and she knew in a heartbeat that Dean knew what she was talking about. He had set his plate on the coffee table and was sitting next to her, taking her hand in his in less than three seconds.

"I don't know," Dean said truthfully, "But we're going to get through this, you, me and Padma. You're not alone Parvati, you never will be, not ever, do you know why?"

Parvati shook her head, "Because you're here, with me."

AN: Hello! I'm back again! I took a break over Christmas to regather my thoughts and flesh out the planning of this story. (I was actually stuffing my face with food.)

I hope you all had a great festive season and that you all enjoy 2013 because 2012 was a total bitch to me.

Also, before I forget, every week this year, I'll be gifting someone a fic of their choice. All you have to do is PM me before all the spots are taken! What to do is on my profile under "GIVING BACK IN 2013" I'd love it if some of you could help me fill up my spots!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

DFTBA,
Best Wishes

~The Original Horcrux~